Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Project Mayhem Racing, which is a trail and obstacle course
race. First year for both and my buddy
Paul put on 1st year race director who did a really good
job. I won't say that right away.
This is the first day, Saturday,which is mainly for the TRO
(00:22):
race. There's some open OCR obstacle
course race waves that went off today, you know, to practice or
just have fun. Tomorrow's the competitive waves
in the obstacle course. Today was again more the trail
race. I'll do a recap of the OCR
tomorrow. So it's a 10K trail race, which
(00:44):
he boasts as being the hardest 10K in the Pittsburgh area.
And I will say I will agree withthat.
It was pretty rough, a lot of fun and hard at the same time.
So I would say it lives up to its name at least for trail
races. There might be like a harder or
(01:04):
hard road race, but for trail races go.
I would say this is the hardest 10K in the Pittsburgh region.
It is a 6.2 mile course. I got it exact when we stopped
and about 11110 eleven, 120 feeta game.
(01:25):
So pretty significant for a 10K.Any true race that you do or any
race in general in that short 10K distance, that's pretty
good. So you know about 100 feet per
mile. What is that like?
We'll just call it one 10115 permile a game.
(01:48):
So you wanted to do some things differently other races don't
do. So everybody started at 8:00 AM
this morning, which is really cool.
And I will say that it was, I don't even think it broke 50 yet
in the morning because I know onthe way down it was like 40 to
(02:11):
44°. So it didn't really get much
warmer than that before we started at 8:00 AM.
So the NA wave, everybody goes and with he was going off of
participation numbers. So whoever finished top eight
men and top five female, again, it was going off of
(02:32):
participation numbers. We're going to go off for a
second lap to decide top three. So you had to play it a little
strategy wise, what you wanted to do.
You know how strong if a runner you are and stuff like that.
If he wanted the podium and he told us ahead of time what the
number was going to be, if there's a little bit more
(02:53):
participation, it would have been 10 and 10, you know, 10
male, 10 female. But this year he did top 8 male
and top five female and we were going to decide what we wanted
to do for that second lab. There's a 1.7 mile basically
(03:14):
like Sprint course and then there was an option to do the
10K course again. The males did the 10K course
again, the females did the Sprint.
It was based on votes. All the women wanted to do the
1.7, the guys all wanted to do the 10K.
So he let us, the sexes do our own thing instead of, you know,
(03:38):
making us do the same batch together.
But anyway, so based off your position in the first race, if
you made top 8 male, I'm just going to use the male because
that's what I am. So we went back out and we did
the 10K course again for a second lap at crap.
(04:01):
What time did we start? 10:00 to decide the top three
positions overall podium for therace.
So it was, so it was unique way to figure out top three, which
is kind of cool. And also on the course there's
two shortcuts that you can take the north, maybe a 10th off 1 is
(04:26):
like right away. It just makes you go through a
little Creek real quick. And then the other one, it's a
really steep 3040% decline, about 20-30 yards.
I don't know how it probably saves.
I think he said like 1.1 or a tenth to like 1.15.
(04:51):
Yeah, .10 to .15 I think is whathe said off the race.
So pretty significant, I guess. I don't know.
I didn't go the other way, so I don't know what the exact
mileage was or how much it actually cut off, but I know I
(05:11):
like all the guys that I noticed.
At least the top five took both shortcuts both times.
But you had to watch on that downhill because there was a log
at the very bottom of it. And when I say a big log, it was
probably chest high so you didn't have to jump and use your
hands to get over it and trying not to trip going down that like
(05:37):
quick 40 yard dash down the hillif you want to take that
shortcut. So a unique perspective and
strategy for the race because you got to figure out, hey, do I
want to take the shortcuts in how for the first lap, how hard
did you want to go if you wantedto go for that top team, you
(06:00):
know, because you had to make sure you chewed that top 8 to
get on to the next round or the whatever, the championship
competitive round. My goal was to take it easy and
my plan was to take it easy. It just being that top eight I
went definitely went harder thanI was hoping to and planned to.
(06:20):
I probably should have just pulled back a lot and walked
some more of it, but I ran pretty comfortably that first
lap. I think overall it was like an 8
1/2 minute pace. It was a little filling out
process as well from the competition.
(06:40):
I wanted to see what everybody else was doing or what their
abilities were. So I was watching people's
feeds, what their strengths and weaknesses were and I did push
them a little bit, I think just to see if they can keep up
because I felt good. So I did.
(07:02):
All right. So the first lap wore Under
Armour compression shorts with shorts over top.
I long sleeve shirt. I did take gloves, which I
didn't take off after a while ina Gator.
I just wore a normal hat, calf sleeves, shoe Gators, my
(07:28):
cohesion TRS and I did wear my waist pack as well so I could
because I figured I would get hot so I wanted to stash my
Gator and my gloves at some point.
Plus I had a one of my 9 oz Nathan bottles in my ultra Spire
waist belt just for water because there's no water stops 6
miles. So I figured at some point I
(07:50):
would need some water or or at least like to have the option
and get some if needed me. So that's why I did that Casino
6 miles I could run that not needed in training but for race
I would like to have that optiona little bit.
I just took water. I didn't think nothing special.
(08:11):
So right off the gate, a couple of us took off.
They probably went on a little harder than I was hoping to in
the first couple tents. Then we definitely slowed up
after that. After we spaced out a little
bit, then we saw the field really didn't want to keep up.
(08:36):
We did take the first shortcut, which is like right away, maybe
like 2 tents into the race, maybe 3-4 tents into the race.
There's the first climb, it's roughly 3350 feet about 7/10
about, and it's a steady incline.
(09:01):
So that was a little bit rough. I think it's like 8% incline for
that 3/4 up about. I know a couple of people were
like, oh, you guys are assholes for going out hard up that hill,
but I wanted to see what people were going to do.
Space to fill it out a little bit.
(09:23):
That was more of a, that first incline was on like an asphalted
like Access Rd. So it wasn't really that bad to
run on. Then once you get to the top,
that's when like the trail stuffstarts.
You went in and out on trails. I don't know any of the names of
(09:44):
the trails that we used. I know some of the stuff looked
familiar from Rabbit Raccoon, but we didn't really use that
course at all because I didn't see the placards on the trees,
so we were probably in and off of that as well.
(10:05):
I thought it was a little dry sort.
There was basically four of us in the front.
And I know it was like me, that Logan Broad man, I forget the
guy who was third at the time. I think there was like a there
(10:25):
was an Alex and John, but they kept going back and forth like
behind me from what I saw. So I can't remember who was who,
you know, for most of the race, like switching back and forth.
So anyway, we get to the top, hit the trails.
(10:46):
I was, you know, I was maybe probably about a mile in at that
point. We were all talking.
I know at one point I said I hadto pee.
Logan said he did too. And I was like, well, we're
going to have to bank some time,then get ahead of people so we
can go. So we tried that.
But then I looked back and saw some people coming down.
(11:11):
You know, we were going down theone descents.
I was like, oh, that plane just went out the window because we
didn't want to, you know, pull off and then get past and we're
having a woman come by and see us peeing along the trail.
So we didn't get to go for a couple miles.
So we're running hard. Not really hard, but like that
(11:34):
839 minute pace for the whole race.
Maybe a little bit longer on some of the uphills because I
know we walked them a little bitjust because we knew we had
time. Took that first shortcut after
we're doing a nice technical downhill.
(11:56):
And you have to, like I said, you have to be careful on that
second shortcut because it is a nice drop off and then you don't
want to go too fast because you have to stop.
You can't just hurdle that tree.You actually have to, you know,
put your hands up and jumped over it that way.
Hit another graphic Rd. quickly and we pumped down on some
(12:22):
asphalt or rail trail or whatever, can't remember which
one. So back down on the flat areas
heading out towards the the lake.
I don't know what the name of the lake is.
I guess it's just Brady's Run Lake, which is pretty flat.
(12:45):
We go by the spillway and do that little work, trail to the
end of it, hit that pavilion before we go up back into the
woods. I know there's a couple of
little position changes there. And then Logan took go to the
bathroom. That first Portage on.
I went up to a tree real quick because there's nobody coming.
(13:11):
Then after that, you know, once we hit that pavilion area
gravity Raccoon uses for an aid station, we are just doing our
thing. A couple of people caught back
up to us, third and 4th got up to us a couple of times or at
least within yelling distance. But we are just pretty much
(13:35):
doing our own thing. We did use the there was some
ropes there and a skate park. When we first jumped back into
the woods, I used it just because I thought I would have
saved my body a little bit more and we walked that incline there
because it was a little rocky and steep.
(13:58):
So just trying to save my body stamina again.
You want to be top 8. You also sort of want to burn
your competition out and push them harder in the first lap so
they don't have nothing to 2nd lap because I knew I could
(14:19):
recover, but I also didn't want to go too hard and race it.
Race it per SE did not have anything left either.
So it's kind of one of those strategy things.
But the pace that we were running, I was running so
comfortable. I was happy with that because
like me and Logan basically talked the whole time until 55
(14:46):
on the downhill. Just, you know, I kept looking
back and stuff like that. So we were just taking it easy,
which is fine by me since we were out in front.
Probably had no more than like aminute from 3rd until like 5-5.
(15:14):
Yeah, I did some real like othertrail trails.
The trail was very compacted today.
The dirt single track stuff, I wish it was a little bit softer,
but it was like beat down like hard packed dirt.
So very runnable and easy to runon.
So I'm glad I wore my cohesions because I had awesome grip on
(15:36):
that. Yeah, you didn't want to like a
spiky shoot today because that probably would have been a lot
rougher and harder to run on. Just how smooth.
Like it mourned that trail because it is the mild biking
trail as well. Now, granted there is some
technical spots, stuff like that, but whatever.
(15:59):
A couple more hills, like the hills we were walking and
talking were like, we want to walk right now because we we
know we are locked in to a top 8at that point.
So we're just strategically running and pacing ourselves
(16:29):
trying to think how trying to gothrough the trail in my head.
Oh, it was, you know, we were running on different trails,
like single tracks, double track, a little bit of gravel
Rd. type things, but a lot of ityou can just turn and burn and
(16:51):
run, which is super nice. And I just, I just felt it
today, like when I was flowing in some of those hills, like
climbing up and I was like, man,this just feels like I'm back to
normal. It just been, you know, you got
that you can go from a steeper incline to a shorter incline or,
(17:16):
you know, not as high grade. Like my body was just like, all
right, it's time to shine. You know, it just wanted to take
over actually running a lot faster than we were.
And I was just, you know, tryingto stay healthy and, you know,
keep myself relative at that point.
(17:36):
Man, I wish I could give you more details.
I know once we hit that like 5-5mark, I don't know, I think it's
probably a little bit before 55,but whatever.
You hit the asphalt road to go back down.
So it had to be, you know, longer than that, maybe a mile
(17:56):
left. And then you're bombing that
downhill, which shocked downhillwas so rough, even though it was
so smooth. Just that pounding of the
asphalt, just like tore up your legs a little bit, actually in
my, like, growing a hip area more than anything.
And then the one guy caught me on that hill, I think.
(18:21):
Yeah, They ended up finishing like third or fourth, I think
4th when we crossed the finish line because the two guys were
third and 4th. Alec and John caught up to me
and passed me, which was fine. I didn't care because the goal
was at the finish. First it was the finish and talk
8 and mom and that downhill wasn't something I really wanted
(18:46):
to do and run harder on that downhill and kill my legs for
the second round. So they passed me.
It was like whatever, you know, not a big deal.
I just wanted to ensure that talk deep.
So I jogged it in with them and the downhill seemed a lot longer
(19:10):
going down it than it did running up and running up.
It seemed like it was really short, fast downhill.
It just seemed like it drowned on forever.
And then the second lap, well, yeah, as we were voting and
(19:33):
stuff, we're like, ah, come on, all the all the women wanted to
do the short course. And I think there was probably
out of the eight guys, there waslike 2 that wanted to do the
short. The other six wanted to do the
wrong. And we're like, come on Paul,
let us go buy sex as men insteadof all together.
(19:56):
So that was nice. I wanted more miles and a couple
other guys wanted more miles. Plus it would have been, well,
still would have played to my strengths running in that uphill
course. It just would have burned out
everybody's legs having to run up and at a race pace being 1.7
(20:18):
miles instead of like pulling back a little bit, even though
we ran the same area over a Six Mile period, you know, you
didn't have to necessarily go like, you know, walls to the
wall type pace for the 10 KS youwould have had to do for 1.7.
(20:41):
So we took, yeah, we took off and it was like the four of us
maybe half, well, not even maybe1/2 mile, maybe 1/2 mile,
whatever. As we're doing the climb, we
just need a little bit broke apart other guys.
(21:01):
Then we probably had 30 seconds once we reached the top.
This is like, all right, I like where I'm sitting at now.
It's second, you know, it gives me a good striking distance.
With 30 seconds already, it's like I can bank more time now
(21:22):
for later and slow down later onsome of the hills.
Let's see. Yeah.
So I I stayed with Logan like a mile and a half, two miles.
But I just finally let him go and I let him get out of sight.
(21:45):
Once we got to that lake again, like the fourth side of the
lake, I think the last blips they hit, well, he went up, you
know, the first side of the lakewas up that going up that hill.
He was coming down the hill as Iwas going up it.
So he had like 2 minutes on me there.
(22:06):
But I was like it doesn't matter.
I got to worry about what's going on behind me at all, what
he's doing. So I was running my own race,
maintaining and holding on 2nd and trying to catch first.
So that was the last time I saw him during the race.
But I did see him. Like I said, he probably had a
(22:29):
good 30 seconds to a minute by the time we were going near the
end of the lake. But I wasn't worried.
I was like whatever, top 3 is good enough for me with the
shave I'm in. So I played it smart from there
on out because we weren't running really fibbly fast.
(22:50):
So the first 2 miles we were I think like 14 or 15 minutes
definitely. I think it was under 16.
So you came up with that, you know, long incline and a couple
other little hills. We were definitely cooking.
And then once we hit that flat part, we were, I was definitely
(23:13):
in the sixes. So definitely, yeah, definitely
turning and burning and gap of everybody else.
The second you know, I did walk the hill again with a rope and a
couple of the other hills as I Itook a couple sips of water on
(23:35):
each of those hills as well. I think 3 different times I got
brought her out and took sips just to stay a little hydrated
and stuff because I was sweatingpretty good.
I noticed I was sweating a lot in the first lap with that long
sleeve and stuff off. Let's see.
(23:58):
Yeah, so I looked back a bunch on that second lap and I know,
but like 2 miles, like I said, my 2 miles in whatever it was,
whatever the mileage is. Well, during the lake run of the
park, I didn't see nobody comingbehind me.
So that at least told me I was aminute ahead at that point.
(24:19):
So I had some time to play with.I figured I was only going to
get farther at that point. But I think when I was walking
the hills, they did catch up a little bit more than I was
expecting. Again, I was more pissing around
than anything and they were trying to catch up to me.
(24:42):
So it was like A2 fold thing, you know, 1 going slower and one
going faster. So the time is easily going to
shrink because I'm not trying tolike turn and burn and A A burn
myself out or B do something stupid, kick a rock or trip trip
(25:04):
on a route or something like that in a fall and then ruin the
race. So I'm trying to play it smart
as well. Once I got myself open and I was
opening up, have no pressure on me, I was just running so
freely. I knew I had a lot left in me as
well. I probably could have did
(25:24):
another lap or two if need be before I would have slowed down
because that's just how good I was running and feeling.
Even at now on the second lap doing like A745744 pace, so a
minute faster per mile in the competitive wave at least more
(25:48):
early on. Again, when I was I didn't walk
and some so it could have been alot lower, a couple minutes
lower I think loaded one by like5-6 minutes over me.
I definitely could have shrunk that down if I had to or wanted
to. But again, just being cautious
(26:10):
and running smarter. I'm not trying to do nothing
dumb. So there was a bigger gap that,
yeah, needed me. So I think third came in two
minutes after me. Maybe a little under 2 minutes,
maybe like a minute and a half, two minutes, somewhere in that
(26:32):
range. But yeah, the downhill coming
back socked. I know it's weird at the top.
I looked back a couple of times again just to make sure nobody
was popping out where we popped out at.
(26:53):
And then as I was bombing the downhill I did look a couple of
times just to make sure nobody was catching up and there was
like a family with like 2 littlegirls and stuff.
As I was running down the hill Istopped real quick and gave them
high fives. So that did cost me a couple
(27:14):
seconds, but that was kind of fun.
There was a few people on the trails today, walking, hiking,
nobody else running, but there was 3 bikers that I remember,
like mountain bikers. The one time I did stop and let
them go by because they were blazing down a downhill.
I think there's time to yeah, because I think 2:00 on the
(27:35):
first lap and three different ones on the second lap.
That's about it. And then I just cruised in.
Once I got down off the asphalt the last couple tents into the
finish line, took my time crossing that shortcut on the
way back. Make sure my feet stay dry.
(27:58):
Jogged it into the finish line from there so I didn't leave
some time out but I was to be able to burn myself up.
So I think the first lap was like 53 minutes ish.
Second lap was like 47 ish. So we definitely knocked a
(28:21):
minute off pace wise at least I did.
First probably knocked 2 minutes.
Yeah, he would have knocked 2 minutes off pace.
So he was, he was probably at a like a 7 minute mile overall,
6:45 to 7:00 minutes. I was at 740-5744 pace overall,
(28:46):
which is pretty good with the course, how hard it was and
again, 1100 feet of game descent, you know, just some of
the technical spots, nothing than that.
I enjoyed it. I thought the course was
(29:08):
actually marking really well, yet flagging.
We also had Red Arrows. The flagging was red and the
arrows on the ground were red, so I definitely noticed them
when I I actually didn't get lost at all.
So I think he really did a good job flagging it.
(29:30):
Even for being a first year, I think it was sufficient.
I know I used the math the second lap but didn't really
have to look and I watched it all.
So that was the other thing about the first lap.
You learn the course what's coming up so you know how to run
it better, which is always helpful.
(29:56):
I didn't switch, I took my shorts off my outer layer
shorts, I ditched my gloves, my Gator for the second lap and I
switched to a like a Reebok liketank top speedster type shirt.
I did wet that down before the race so I can make sure I'm
(30:18):
staying cool. What else?
All right, so a couple side notes.
(30:42):
Last night I ate 2 hot sausage sweet Italian hot sausages up at
the Johnstown Ethnic Fest and I was like yeah I'm probably going
to regret this in the morning. I don't know if they were cooked
through enough either last nightbecause they did seem a little
pink in the middle, but whatever, they were good.
Anyhow, it's like, it's probablynot good to run a trail race,
(31:03):
especially because I've been shit almost shitting myself when
I've been training. I had a poop.
What? Yeah, a little poop in the
morning before I left and then when I got to the race and in
between the races. Oh my God, I that poor bathroom.
It was horrible. Like when I I had to flush a
(31:25):
couple of times I just stunk. So luckily I got that out before
the 2nd lap because I don't think I would have been able to
run that second lap if I didn't poop as madly as I did in
between. And I I think it was also why I
was a little sweaty in the firstlap because I could feel it
(31:45):
ruined. Thank goodness I got it out
again. Sorry for the bathroom or
anybody that was in there at thetime.
Then I pooped again before I left.
Bad time with my guts today. But again, when you're running
(32:06):
that hard, things are going to flush out and get out of your
system a lot quicker. So it was kind of expected.
Let's see, in between races I ate a pretzel.
(32:30):
They had some what? Pretzel factory pretzels.
I don't want to get the things mixed up.
Yes, but pretzel factory pretzels.
It was pretty good. So that was like my car blown.
(32:52):
I had a little bit of Gatorade and what else did I have?
One of my fruit roll offs. I was ready to go.
(33:28):
I'm trying to think, what else? Yeah, the course is marked well
and I think he really did an excellent job marking the
course. I didn't get lost and I felt
like I knew where to go the whole race, so that's a huge
plus. And even see a lot of the
(33:49):
obstacles for tomorrow as you'rerunning it.
The courses did overlap some, sowe got to see a lot of them.
I mean, there was people today, they had like an open wave
today. Some people wanted to come
practice or just have fun. They could do that today.
I know a bunch of people did that today as well.
(34:17):
Yeah, I was very impressed how Ifelt today, how I ran today.
It's the overall experience. I just think it was put on very
well today. This was the medal for the trail
race. You see it says trail on it.
(34:38):
The obstacle course one says obviously obstacle course.
This cool thing that says Project Mayhem racing logo.
This is what we got for top three.
It's like a three-game printed skeleton and then the chains I
(35:01):
guess are three, I would assume are 3D printed as well.
Maybe they're just plastic chains.
I didn't really get the look at them too well yet.
So that was pretty cool. Pretty nice size, top three
podium. And then he also offered money
today. It was like 100 for 1st, 50 for
(35:24):
2nd and 20 for 3rd. So being a first year race
giving money back, it was huge. I just gave the money back to
him and said keep it for next year because he's my buddy.
I got him some life jackets at work this week for the obstacle
course swim tomorrow as well. Look like people were having
(35:46):
fun. I think people enjoyed the trail
race. I mean it was hard but it was
rewarding and I know when I was talking to the other guys they
enjoyed it. One of them was the first ever
trail race so that was pretty cool.
Felt like we were all old though.
I will say that nothing against the other guys, but I I don't
(36:08):
think there's like any 20 year olds there might have been 120
year old. Felt like we were all ancient at
least like the top four of us. We were pretty old, like 30 + 35
plus. Could be wrong about the ages,
but whatever. Tomorrow I told him I'd get back
(36:35):
down. My plan for tomorrow.
Well, we'll see what happens, what time I wake up tomorrow,
plan for tomorrow. But there's it's a two-part
plan. We'll see if I can get up in
time. I'll wait and do a 5K on the
other side of the park. What's going on?
And then I might come over and do the first wave of the
(36:59):
obstacle course for more fun, just for fun, you know, just to
experience myself. But the plan, the major plan is
because that's the five KS at 9:00.
The first the whatever the big wave for the obstacle course is
(37:20):
at 10:30 and then the competitive wave for the
obstacle course is at noon. So I at least got to be there by
noon tomorrow because I don't plan on qualifying.
Even if I do the that first wave, I plan on being there for
the noon start for the competitive wave.
(37:42):
So I could video it again, I don't plan on qualifying or
running it. You know the wave to qualify
because I just don't have the obstacle course body right now.
But I want a video of the top competitive wave, at least try
to stay with the top 10 or whatever and many of them doing
(38:07):
it and capture it for him. I shouldn't be able to maybe not
stay with first, but stay with at least the top ten, somebody
in the top 10 because that's only four mile course.
It should be a little bit easierto run.
So hopefully I can stick with them to get that footage for
(38:27):
everybody. But I'm trying to think what
else I don't know. I think I might be about it.
It's a pretty long recap. But again, with that two race
form, 2 lap format and then the shortcut possibilities, I don't
know, you know, if everybody took the shortcuts, but why not
(38:55):
if it's there. And again, it's allowable
shortcuts. He has them built in with signs.
Well, I guess I should mention that.
So with the flagging, he has like the red flagging on the
ground and then the arrows, the Red Arrows.
But he also had a couple of different turns where he had
like 4 by 4 posts with an arrow on it, an actual like arrow
(39:18):
arrow, you know, like turn here.Then there's the ones for the
shortcut. It's like shortcut, you know, on
it. It's like, yeah, I guess I'm
going to leave it at that. Let me think one last time.
(39:41):
Oh yeah, here's the here's the rapper.
So it is the Philly Pretzel Factory.
Shout out to them, they're having good pretzels.
Needed that salt boost and the carbs.
But it's a Brady's Run park. I don't know if I mentioned
that. So you get an indoor bathroom
(40:04):
and shower if you need it. You know, it's a big facility in
a very nice park. Kind of interested to see how
tomorrow goes, how people like the obstacles and experience
them for myself. So I don't know, enjoyed it.
So I finished second. So the first lap that we were
(40:25):
taking an easy on, we did like 50-3 and then within an hour
later we ran the second lap, didit in 47.
Well, I did it at 47, win it in 41.
So definitely turned it up. I still got some juice in my
(40:46):
legs as well. 8 more miles todayfor a 20 mile day.
See how that shit goes. That's another reason because
I'm going to go eat tonight in Johnstown.
There's probably some more shitty food that'll make me poop
and I can do 8 more miles today.I'd like to do 8 more miles so
there's no way I can run competitive tomorrow.
(41:10):
So just enjoy it and support my buddy and maybe I'll bring some
entertaining things for tomorrowto people to use and help them
out as well. So check out Project Racing or.